


Not According To Plan

by vic_amy_z



Category: Franklin & Bash
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-10-22
Updated: 2011-10-22
Packaged: 2017-10-24 20:48:25
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,757
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/267730
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/vic_amy_z/pseuds/vic_amy_z
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Can Peter and Jared survive a weekend away with the firm? Or is their relationship about to go very public?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Not According To Plan

**Author's Note:**

> I still know very little about the American Legal System... and I know even less about surfing so apologies if I got anything wrong! I blame _'Point Break'_ for much of this! I should also warn that the story leans towards fluffy and romantic, so if you're looking for angst, you won't find it here. Sorry!

'... Which brings us to the final point on the agenda; the annual Infeld & Daniels team building weekend.'

Peter zoned back in at Infeld's words and Jared looked up suddenly from where he'd been doodling something vaguely obscene on a notepad. They caught each other's eyes and grinned. This was why they'd signed up with a fancy law firm - perks!

'So, where are we off to?' Peter asked, brightly.

'I hear Aruba's nice this time of year,' Jared offered.

'Ah!' Infeld exclaimed with a smile, 'You can always spot those who've never taken part in one of these events by their naïve enthusiasm.'

It was then that Peter noticed how everyone else around the table had started to slouch dejectedly in their seats. There was a lot of groaning and eye rolling, and Karp looked like he was one step away from banging his head against the table. It was starting to dawn on Peter that this particular perk might not be so much of a perk after all.

'No, I am pleased to announce that this year we will be spending the weekend in... Huntington Beach!' Infeld declared with a flourish.

'Ye...' Jared was halfway through a celebratory air punch when he cut himself off. 'What? That's like, an hour away!'

'Details will be coming through via email,' Infeld was wrapping up the meeting, 'Please clear your schedules and pack appropriately, people.' He gave them all a smile that Peter wasn't entirely comfortable with as he swept out of the meeting room, leaving the rest of the lawyers to gather up their papers and grumble about being forced to give up a weekend to obligatory team building.

Peter collared Damien in the corridor as he and Jared were heading back to their office. 'So, what's the big deal with this team building thing?' Peter asked him, 'Why'd everyone look like they'd sooner shoot themselves in the head?'

'Oh, did you not get the memo? No-one wants to spend the weekend with you two.' Damien replied scornfully. Peter gave him a look that said, _don't be an ass_. 'Okay, fine,' he said, reluctantly, 'Every year we're forced to spend a weekend together for the purposes of _'team building'_. Some of the staff from the New York office come over to assist with any ongoing cases and we return the favour when they go away - that's also something you'll want to avoid, by the way.'

'Thanks, I'll remember that.' Peter gave him a grateful nod at the unexpected gesture of goodwill. 'But it's still a weekend away, right? Nice hotel, room service... Why the outbreak of despair?'

'Come on, Peter, you're an intelligent guy - _'team building'_? If you'd ever worked for a proper law firm before Infeld  & Daniels, you'd have some idea that those are two words you never want to hear, especially in conjunction with the words _'weekend_ ' and _'mandatory'_.' And with that, Karp turned and headed down the corridor towards his office.

Peter turned to Jared who'd been watching their exchange with interest from down the hallway. 'Hey, Karp thinks I'm intelligent!' he said with a grin.

'Way to snatch a compliment out of the jaws of an insult, buddy!'

 **~~~~~~~~**

Back in their office, Peter had almost put the issue out of his mind as he concentrated on some case files, when his train of thought was briefly derailed by simultaneous _'pings'_ from both his and Jared's computers, followed by Jared yelling, 'We're doing WHAT?!'

Peter leapt up out of his chair and skidded over to Jared's desk - because it never occurred to him to open his own email. 'What? What's happening?' he asked.

Jared spun the screen 'round so Peter could see it. 'Surfing!' he exclaimed, before Peter could read anything, 'We're going surfing!'

'What?!' Peter rapidly skimmed the email for the details.

'I don't surf, Peter! This involves the sea. And a surfboard!'

'That's certainly my understanding of it,' Peter replied, trying to keep the amusement at Jared's reaction out of his voice.

Jared was now pacing back and forth, running his hands through his hair distractedly. 'If it involves a games console, I'm your guy,' he muttered, almost to himself, 'Or doing body shots. Or eating nachos. But not surfing...'

The last time Jared had got this worked up about something, it had taken a very enjoyable twenty minutes in the janitor's closet to calm him down again. And Peter was due to meet a client in fifteen so he reached out and grabbed both Jared's arms to stop him mid-pace. 'Hey! It'll be fine, okay?' Peter soothed, 'Look, we'll check out the details and talk about this later, yeah?'

'Fine,' Jared said, tersely, dropping into his chair with a sigh.

'We can do this, right? I mean, it's only surfing. How hard can it be?'

 **~~~~~~~~**

Later, armed with a couple of Wii balance boards and several beers, they found out just how hard it could be.

'Fuck!' Jared's on screen avatar tumbled into the waves for the third time in as many minutes. 'I don't get it? What the hell am I doing wrong?'

'Perhaps if you put your beer down?' Pindar offered, helpfully.

'Yeah, like that's going to happen.'

Peter didn't appear to be faring much better; leaning way too far back and actually falling off the balance board altogether. After another ten minutes, and two dismal final scores, they collapsed gratefully onto the couch.

'Is there no way we can get out of this?' Jared asked, looking up hopefully at Peter as he leaned back against him. 'Can't you have a distant relative who dies or something?'

'I don't think that...'

'I could get dysentery?'

'It's not going to...'

'Ebola?!'

'Okay,' Peter cut him off before Jared could suggest that they try amputating something, 'So maybe the surfing part isn't going to be for us. But like I said to Karp, it's still a weekend away right? And the firm's bound to spring for a nice hotel.' Jared still appeared to be sulking. 'Room service? Fluffy bathrobes?' He still didn't appear to be convinced. 'Pay per view porn?' Peter offered, finally.

Jared tried to smother the grin on his face, but failed. 'Well, if there's going to be porn, I suppose...' he conceded, still trying to sound like he was sulking.

'That's the spirit.'

'But there better be a blow job in it for me.'

'I'll see what I can do,' Peter said with a smile, wrapping an arm around Jared's chest and pulling him a little closer. 'A weekend together in a hotel room... I mean, how bad can that to be?'

Peter really needed to learn to stop asking these questions.

 **~~~~~~~~**

The _'Weekend of Doom'_ , as Jared had taken to referring to it, came around all too soon. There had been a definite air of dejection hanging over the office in the days leading up to their departure; cases were handed over to those people who'd be holding the fort, and they looked almost as miserable to be there as the LA lawyers looked about leaving.

Back at the Cave that afternoon, Jared and Peter spent their time playing computer games, foosball, table tennis - anything to put off the inevitable. Finally, they both accepted that they couldn't put it off any longer and reluctantly went and packed. Peter hated packing with a fiery passion. Once that chore was done, there really didn't seem to be any point in waiting around so they slung their bags dejectedly into the car, and with Pindar and Carmen waving them off far too cheerfully, Peter put it into drive and headed onto the I-5 for the Pacific Coast Highway.

After a few minutes in the car together, they started to forget about the fate that awaited them. Jared cranked the stereo and soon they were singing rock classics at the tops of their voices and laughing like they always did. By the time they were out of the LA traffic and onto the freeway, Peter was actually looking forward to the whole thing.

'I'm finally going to get to have a bath where I can use all the hot water without Carmen bitching to me about it,' he said with a smile of contentment.

'And I'm going to order the biggest burger on the menu from room service. Or maybe a steak. Hell, why not both!' Jared added.

'So, do I get anything to play with in the bath, or am I going to have to make do with a rubber duck?'

'Peter, are you suggesting that I put out on the first night?' Jared said with mock indignation.

The thought of Jared wrapped in a ridiculously huge bathrobe made Peter shift uncomfortably in his seat. But then what was the point of having a best friend who did actually come with benefits, if you didn't get to use them once in a while?

 **~~~~~~~~**

When they parked up at the designated meeting place, just under an hour later, they were almost the last to arrive. Peter wasn't quite sure why they were meeting in a car park, but he figured that the final destination would be close by. He started scanning the area for fancy hotels.

'So,' Infeld addressed the assembled group, 'Here we all are at last. If you'd like to see Damien for your room allocations we can all get settled in. Orientation is downstairs at nine A.M. sharp tomorrow morning. Feel free to use this evening as you see fit, perhaps as a sort of _'getting to know you'_ for some of our newer members.' Infeld nodded towards Peter and Jared and they both groaned. That was so not how they'd planned to spend the evening. _Still_ , Peter thought, _as long as there's a bar..._

They were the last to get to Damien, who stood with a clipboard and an unnecessarily smug expression.

'Ah, last and most definitely least,' he greeted them, but Peter was not going to rise to the bait.

'Please let there be a Jacuzzi, please let there be a Jacuzzi...' Jared was mumbling to himself.

'You two are in...' Damien consulted his clipboard, 'Dorm number seventeen, on the second floor.'

'I'm sorry, dorm number what on the where now?' Peter cut in, praying that he'd misheard. Jared just stood rooted to the spot, a look of abject horror on his face.

'Dorm. Seventeen. Second. Floor.' Damien repeated it as though it were for the benefit of the hard of hearing.

'Ahem, excuse me,' Peter turned to address Stanton, who was standing next to Damien, 'Am I to understand that we're sharing a room with _other people_ this weekend?'

'But of course, Peter,' Stanton replied, as though it should have been obvious. 'Wouldn't be much of a team building weekend if you were all holed up on your own, now would it?' He clapped Peter on the back and headed inside.

Peter rounded on Damien. 'You knew about this? You knew we were going to be in a hostel dorm room and you didn't tell us?' he said, furiously.

'You never asked,' Damien replied with a shrug and followed Stanton.

'Oh, I'm going to kill that smug little son of a...' But as Peter turned, he realised that Jared was already gone. He quickly grabbed his bag and started to run for the second floor.

When Peter arrived at the door of dormitory seventeen, Jared was already standing there. He hadn't gone very far inside but he appeared to be clutching his bag to him like a security blanket. When Peter looked over his shoulder he could see why.

There was a horrible silence between then, before Jared finally said in a very small voice, 'Bunk beds, Peter? We're supposed to sleep on bunk beds?'

'We... I...' Peter had no words.

'I'm not getting that blow job, am I?'

'Not unless it's something you want to share with the whole class.' Peter gestured towards the two further sets of bunk beds that filled the room.

Just as they were starting to think that the weekend couldn't possibly get any worse, Damien came in behind them and threw his bag onto one of the bottom bunks. He turned to look at Peter and Jared, neither of whom had moved.

'So, which one of you is going on top? I mean, people always assume that it's the little one, but I'm sure that's something that you two already have figured out, right?'

Peter stepped forward, not sure whether he was going to confront Karp or take a swing at him, but Jared quickly moved in front of him and calmly put his own bag onto one of the remaining bottom bunks. Peter carefully dialled down the anger and just as coolly took the top bunk, glaring at Karp, daring him to say anything. Karp nodded at their actions but wisely kept his mouth shut.

It was going to be a long weekend.

 **~~~~~~~~**

Given the horror of their situation, Peter and Jared chose to do the only sensible thing that they could think of. The only sensible thing that _didn't_ involve jumping straight back in the car and flooring it all the way back to the Cave.

The found the nearest bar and proceeded to drink. A lot.

Their first three beers were drunk in almost complete silence. They didn't need to say anything to each other to express how much they were _not_ looking forward to this weekend. A game was playing in the background and although they both appeared to be looking at the screen, Peter was pretty sure that neither of them could even say which sport was being played.

'I don't think I can do it, Peter.' Jared spoke suddenly but quietly, like he'd been working his way up to saying something.

Peter took another drink and turned away from the TV to face his friend. 'We can get through this, Jared. It's just one weekend. If we really want the company to keep us on, we're going to need everyone we can get on our side - and damn it, I refuse to live in a world where Damien Karp is proved right.'

'The dorm.' Jared was looking straight down at the bar, not meeting Peter's eyes. 'I could care less about the rest of the weekend right now. I don't think I can sleep in a dorm. Not again.'

Peter looked at Jared for a second. The last beer had put a nice, fuzzy alcohol buzz on everything and he was struggling to think through it. Then it dawned on him. He slipped his arm around Jared's shoulder because he didn't know what else to do.

Just after they'd met, Jared had spent a year at a private boarding school and he'd hated every minute of it. Peter knew that Jared's dad had made him finish up the year before he'd let him attend a school back in Los Angeles. Jared had never really told Peter what happened, but he remembered more than a few sleepovers where Jared had woken him up with nightmares that he hadn't wanted to talk about. Peter kicked himself for not remembering, but then Jared wasn't a kid anymore and he hadn't had those dreams in a long time. At least not to Peter's knowledge. Then again, he didn't usually have to sleep in a dormitory.

So because he didn't know what else he could do, he set about getting his best friend good and drunk in the hope that Jared would pass out and not remember anything else until morning. And that called for tequila slammers, and lots of them.

Five slammers later, Jared was starting to slur his words. By number seven he wasn't walking in a straight line. Time to head back to the hostel and see if the plan would work.

 **~~~~~~~~**

It had been a bit of a struggle trying to get Jared into bed without waking anyone else up. He'd reached the stage of drunkenness where he was prone to tripping over stuff and then _'shushing'_ Peter really loudly. The others all seemed to have turned in pretty early - probably through boredom - but finally Jared appeared to be sleeping. Peter turned over gratefully in the ridiculously tiny bunk and drifted off to sleep.

An indeterminable amount of time later, he could feel himself being dragged back into consciousness by noises coming from the bunk below. Peter slowly opened one eye to find that his hangover had kicked in nice and early. God, he hoped that Jared wasn't throwing up because he really wasn't sure if he could cope with that right now.

Hanging over the side of the bunk and ignoring the pounding at his temples when all the blood rushed to his head, Peter checked the bed below. Jared looked as though he was trapped in a nightmare; he was twitching in his sleep, his legs making kicking motions and he was mumbling strange words. Scared he was going to wake the others, Peter reached down and shook him gently.

'No, stop!' Jared called out, waking with a start.

'Shhhh...' Peter whispered from above him. 'You're okay. It's only me.' Jared visibly relaxed at the realisation, closing his eyes and letting out a sigh.

'Have I mentioned that I fucking hate dormitories?' Jared whispered.

Peter didn't know the details of the memories that had triggered Jared's nightmare but he was guessing that sharing a room with other boys had not been a happy experience for him. Peter squeezed his shoulder because there was nothing he could say. Jared reached up and took his hand, twisting their fingers together.

'And why does there appear to be a dead skunk in my mouth?' Jared whispered again.

'That would be the tequila,' Peter whispered back.

'Oh god. Tomorrow's really going to hurt, isn't it?'

Peter slept the rest of the night with his head and arm hanging off the side of the bunk.

 **~~~~~~~~**

The next day, after a truly painful orientation, they made it onto the beach by mid-morning, both wearing shades out of necessity rather than through any desire to 'look the part'. The sun was shining brightly and a strong breeze whipped along the shore. They'd been kitted out at the surf shop and were now wearing their wetsuits and wondering what the hell they were supposed to do next.

'Look at me, Peter,' Jared said, morosely, 'I look like a fucking penguin!'

He had to admit that Jared did look faintly ridiculous. Peter was about to make a crude remark about getting Jared out of his wetsuit again, when Damien turned up, ever the mood killer.

'Nice of you both to show up,' Damien said curtly and stood the surfboard he was carrying in the sand next to them. 'Peter, this is yours. You'll need to go back the surf shop for yours Jared.'

'Aw, could you not manage two?' Jared asked in patronising tones.

'Nice wetsuit, by the way. I didn't even know they made them in kiddie sizes,' Damien replied, smugly.

Peter picked up the surfboard, tucked it under his arm and turned sharply in the direction of the surf shop. The board swung round behind him and knocked Damien on his ass. 'Sorry Damien,' Peter said without turning round, 'Didn't see you there.' They both sniggered like children, all the way to the surf shop.

'I thought we were supposed to be getting Damien on our side,' Jared reminded him, still chuckling.

'What?' Peter replied, innocently. 'It's not my fault if I didn't see him.'

'You don't have to keep sticking up for me, you know. I _can_ handle Karp.'

'Shut up,' Peter said with a grin. He knew he should just ignore Damien and his digs, especially if they wanted to keep their jobs, but he couldn't help it, he had a habit of going into protective mode where Jared was concerned. While they were waiting in line, Damien caught up with them again. Peter clenched his fists, determined not to let the man get to him this time.

'Hey, no need to wait. I think they found your surfboard, Jared,' he said, holding a child-sized board that had a pink, sparkly unicorn on it.

'I'm gonna kill him!' Jared made a run at Damien and Peter barely had time to grab his friend 'round the waist to stop him. Damien walked off laughing as Peter had to physically hold Jared off the ground to stop him from launching a full-scale attack. Clearly the excesses of last night had left Jared with one remaining nerve today and Damien was on it.

'Remember we want to keep our jobs,' Peter reminded him when he finally felt that Damien was far enough away for him to safely put Jared back on the ground again.

'Oh, and your class is over by the pier,' Damien called back. 'Don’t be late!'

 **~~~~~~~~**

It turned out that they'd been assigned to the _'Surfing for Beginners'_ class, along with just two of the other lawyers and a load of twelve year olds. It was hot on the beach with the sun right overhead, but the breeze seemed to be blowing away the remaining vestiges of Peter's hangover.

He smiled weakly at the other Infeld & Daniels staff as the instructor taught them how to lie on their boards. _Andrew and..._ Peter racked his brains for the woman's name. _Claire! That was it_. Apparently, the four of them were the only staff members who didn't have any surfing experience, so they suffered through the humiliation of the beginners' class while the rest of the team were out catching waves, albeit with varying degrees of success.

As the instructor taught them how to move into a standing position, Claire toppled off the back of her board and Peter caught her deftly. 'Thank you, Peter,' she blushed furiously in his arms, which only made him ratchet up the charm another couple of notches. As he turned back, he caught Jared rolling his eyes at him so he just grinned and shrugged.

When Jared fell off his board, he landed ass first on the beach and the twelve year olds laughed at him, which did nothing to improve his mood.

After lunch, they actually made it into the water, but soon regretted it when they realised that they were going to spend far more time _under_ the water than _on_ it. Jared climbed back onto his surfboard for the three hundredth time that afternoon, only to be thrown straight off it again by an oncoming wave. At that point, he declared that he was officially done for the day and stalked back up the beach.

Peter stayed on the shore with Claire as they both practiced standing on their boards. Well, Peter was helping Claire more than he was actually practicing. He knew that Jared was watching him in an _'I'm not really watching you'_ kind of way. And although Peter appeared to be pressing himself against Claire, his hands on her hips as he helped her position herself on the board, he was actually watching Jared over her shoulder as he stood under the shower at the top of the beach.

If it wasn't for the fact that they were sharing a room with four other men, Peter was pretty sure that by tonight, Jared would have wanted to claim the blow job he'd been promised.

 **~~~~~~~~**

Several hours later, Jared was limping badly and Peter was so tired that he could barely see straight; their muscles protesting loud and clear about what they'd been put through. And because the bathrooms were shared and everyone had been on the beach all day, the queue for the showers looked like it practically stretched around the block.

They stood patiently in line, wrapped in their towels, because they didn't have the energy to be impatient about anything at that point. Although when Hanna came past and gave them both an appreciative glance, they at least managed to find the energy to smile at her. And while he was more than happy to flirt with her, Peter suspected that she still had a soft spot for Jared, much to Karp's annoyance.

After ten minutes, the queue didn’t seem to have moved much and Peter had had enough of waiting. He wandered down to the end of the hallway and found that there were also baths that no one was waiting for. When he opened the door, he realised that the baths were as ancient as the rest of the facilities in the place, which also meant that they were deep, cast iron tubs, big enough for...

Peter stuck his head back out the door and waved surreptitiously at Jared to get his attention. When his friend came limping over, Peter looked quickly up and down the hallway to check that no one was watching them, before grabbing Jared by the arm, pulling him into the bathroom and quickly shutting the door behind them.

'Hey! What the fu… Wow, that bath is huge! You could get like, two…'

'My thoughts exactly,' Peter said, grinning at Jared suggestively.

He went over and turned the taps on full. The water pressure was thunderous and Peter had a brief moment of pleasure as he imagined those people who were monopolising the showers standing under a slow trickle and wondering where all the water had gone. He didn't get long to marvel at how fast the bath was filling though, because a second later, Jared had him pushed up against the wall and was kissing him fiercely; the lips moving against his spoke of passion and possession, hands gripping sensitive skin, firing nerves that suddenly felt over stimulated. When they broke apart, Jared's blue eyes were dilated, his skin flushed.

'Huh?' Peter was having difficulty forming coherent thoughts. He'd slid down the wall a little, making them the same height and Jared was leaning against him, smiling.

'That's for hitting on the entire beach today!' Jared said.

'What? It was harmless flirting! And with one person. Well, maybe two.'

'Yeah? Well, given enough time you'd have got around to everyone else eventually.'

'Are you... jealous?' Peter asked, giving Jared a look.

'As if!' Jared replied, disparagingly.

Peter was trying hard not to find it desperately cute that a bit of flirting with a female co-worker had aroused Jared's _'green-eyed monster'_. In lieu of anything else to say on the subject, Jared kissed him again, softer this time. Peter wrapped his arms around Jared and pulled them closer together. Something about kissing his best friend made Peter's skin tingle.

When they came up for air again, Jared moved away a little but Peter reached forward and ran his fingers lightly over Jared's skin, just above the towel that was wrapped around his waist, watching as he shivered. 'Y'know, we _are_ all alone in here. If you wanted to claim what you were promised...' Peter looked up at Jared through lowered lashes.

'Really?' A thoughtful look crossed Jared's features.

Peter dipped one finger underneath the towel and tugged lightly. 'Yeah, why not? I've spent so long with my head under water today that everything tastes of salt anyway.'

'Oh, that's just what every guy wants to hear!' Jared laughed, leaning in to Peter again. After a few moments he looked up at Peter and said, 'But honestly? I'm so exhausted that all I can think about is how good it's going to feel to get in that bath.'

'Oh thank god,' Peter said with a laugh, ''Cause even if I could get on my knees right now, I'm pretty sure I wouldn't be able to get up again!'

Peter reached over and turned the taps off as the bath was over half-full and then he stripped off his towel before stepping into the steaming water. The noises he made as the heat enveloped his aching muscles were verging on pornographic! Jared stood and looked at him.

'How come I get the tap end?' he asked petulantly.

'Just shut up and get in.'

Peter hissed softly as the water level rose and covered his shoulders. Jared sat opposite him but there wasn't anywhere comfortable to put his legs and he couldn't lie back without leaning on a tap, so eventually he just turned around and lay against Peter. For a moment they were both silent, enjoying the sensation of being completely covered by the hot water.

'Okay... is this too weird?' Jared asked, finally.

'I think we passed 'weird' some time ago,' Peter replied with a chuckle.

 **~~~~~~~~**

Carefully, Jared opened the bathroom door and looked out into the corridor. 'Coast's clear,' he said, turning back towards Peter who was still securing the towel 'round his waist. It wasn't that they were trying to hide anything, they'd just agreed that it would be too hard trying to explain their closeness to anyone other than Carmen and Pindar. And living in the same house as Peter and Jared, they'd been unable to avoid it!

Unfortunately, the few seconds it took for Peter to be ready to leave was enough time for them to run straight into Damien just as they were both coming out of the same bathroom. Wet. Jared nodded at him and smiled as though everything was completely normal, so Peter took his cue from Jared and did the same. They walked off, chatting amiably about nothing, leaving Damien looking deeply puzzled and trying not to stare.

'Well, _that's_ gonna make for an interesting conversation somewhere down the line,' Jared admitted, when they were back in the empty dorm. With no clue as to where everyone else had got to, they slipped into sweats and t-shirts and prepared to get into bed.

Jared practically fell into bed as Peter yawned, stretched and said, 'Fuck, I'm _so_ tired.' From down the corridor there was suddenly a huge cheer and the sounds of laughter. Jared threw off his covers again and headed straight for the source of the noise. 'But apparently, not _that_ tired...' Peter said to the now-empty room before following Jared down the corridor.

Two rooms down, they found where everyone else had got to. Some of them were sitting on the floor in the middle of the room, engaged in what could only be described as a very enthusiastic game of poker, while the rest of the room's inhabitants lounged around on the beds. Peter assumed that as the beds were all singles rather than bunks, that they must be in the female partners' room. Plus, it smelt a whole lot better than their room!

Hanna was lying across one of the beds, propped up on her stomach to watch the game. She saw them both standing in the doorway and beckoned them over, moving up to make room for them on the bed. They sat down, a little awkwardly at first.

Peter was suddenly very aware of being out of his comfort zone. When they were in the chrome and glass environment of Infeld & Daniels, with everyone dressed in suits and speaking in Lawyer, he felt in control. But sitting on a bed in what were effectively his pyjamas, his hair still wet, and yet surrounded by the same people? It was like being in a parallel universe.

He guessed he must've looked a little uncomfortable because Andrew came over and offered him a beer, despite the hostel's strict 'no alcohol' policy, he was pleased to note. Peter thanked him, grabbed two beers from the cooler and turned to offer one to Jared who was chatting away to Hanna, apparently not in the least bothered by the fact that he was in his pyjamas.

'Oh, you just missed him actually,' Hanna said, 'Stanton never misses the poker night but he won three pots in a row and decided to quit while he was ahead.'

'So this is a normal night on an Infeld & Daniels team building weekend then?' Peter asked, his mind boggling slightly at the thought.

'Oh yeah,' Hanna replied, taking a mouthful from her beer that had been standing on the floor, 'We complain like hell about having to do these things every year but once we get into it, everyone has a lot of fun. It might sound like a crazy thing to do to a bunch of lawyers, but Stanton's not stupid, he knows what he's doing.'

Looking around at everyone chatting, laughing, drinking and generally being far more chilled out than they ever were in the office, Peter had to admit that Hanna was probably right. If anyone had told Peter before this weekend that he'd see Hanna drinking a beer and eating Cheetos, which she was now sharing with Jared, he'd have said that they were crazy. Although without the power suit, heels and make-up, with her hair tied back, Peter actually thought that she looked way younger and prettier.

'Stanton's a very cool guy,' Jared agreed, 'I guess that gene must have skipped a generation though.'

Hanna rolled towards Jared and nudged him playfully with her shoulder. 'Hey, Damien's okay once you get to know him.'

Before Jared could get into detail about how well Hanna _really_ knew Damien, the man himself came in through the door. Peter caught his eye and he knew by the way that Jared's sentence had trailed off that he'd done the same. He gave them both a brief nod and joined the poker game. _Well, could've been worse_ , Peter thought.

'Cheeto?' Jared said, offering him the bag.

Peter took a handful and sipped his beer thoughtfully. 'This still feels strange y'know. Like we're up past curfew at camp and someone should be posted as a lookout to make sure we don't get caught playing spin the bottle or something.'

'Oh no, we're not playing that!' Hanna said, 'Well, not after the last time, anyway,' she finished with a smile.

'You _cannot_ just throw that into the conversation and then expect us not to ask,' Jared said.

'Uh-uh,' Hanna shook her head, 'What happens on a team building weekend, stays on a team building weekend!'

'Well, that's always good to know,' Jared replied, flashing her one of his trademark grins and raising an eyebrow suggestively.

At this point, Peter was staring daggers into the back of Jared's head, but he seemed oblivious. The little shit was flirting with Hanna, and after he'd given Peter a hard time for doing the same thing. Oh, it was on...

'So, I guess this really is like camp then,' Peter began, 'Secret stashes of alcohol, random hook ups, no discernable adult supervision.' He paused for effect. 'Say Jared, you went to camp, didn't you?' Jared turned his head slowly and gave Peter a look that said _'don't go there'_. But Peter was already on his way. 'Not that you could have got up to that much. I mean, it was Latin camp, after all.'

Hanna snorted into her beer and then tried to cover it with a cough.

Jared stared straight ahead as though he was watching the poker game. 'I got two words for you, dude. Jazz camp.' He threw a Cheeto in the air and caught it in his mouth before giving Peter a smug grin.

 _Asshole_ , thought Peter.

 **~~~~~~~~**

A few beers later, they said their goodnights and hit the sack, and the rest of the partners weren't that far behind. Dragging himself slowly into his bunk, Peter wondered if it wouldn't have been less painful to just sleep on the floor. Finally, he made it into bed, dragged the covers over his head and immediately fell asleep.

It was still dark when Peter was shaken awake. Literally. Jared's nightmare had him thrashing so violently that Peter's bunk was actually moving. Still half asleep, Peter leant over the side of his bed and grabbed hold of Jared's shoulder again.

'Hey man, wake up,' he mumbled.

But whatever was going on in Jared's head had a stronger hold on him than Peter did. Jared threw off his grip, crying out loud about something that Peter couldn't decipher. There was movement coming from one of the other bunks and Peter knew that he had to wake Jared before he did the same thing to everyone else. He swung his legs over the side of the bed and jumped to the ground, ignoring the dissent from every muscle in his body.

He sat on the edge of Jared's bed and tried shaking him again but Jared's cries got louder. Eventually, Peter grabbed both his shoulders and pulled him into a sitting position. Jared sucked in a sharp breath and for a split second, Peter thought that he was going to start yelling. Then Jared's eyes focused on Peter, registered where he was and he let the breath out in a long sigh.

'You're okay, it was just a dream,' Peter soothed. Jared's breath hitched in his throat again as he struggled to get control of his fears. Peter held onto him until he felt Jared's heartbeat start to drop back to normal. Then he pulled away and looked at him carefully, 'Do you want to talk ab...'

'No.' Jared pulled his knees up to his chest and rested his head against them, his body language stating quite clearly that the matter was not up for discussion.

Peter nodded, leaving it at that. He was wondering what to do next when there was more movement from one of the other bunks. He didn't want Jared to have another nightmare and he didn't want anyone else to find out what was going on with his best friend, so he whispered to Jared, 'Move over.'

'You can't be serious, Peter,' Jared hissed back, 'What if...'

'Just shut up and don't hog the covers,' Peter said softly, settling himself in behind Jared. He pulled their bodies close, partly for comfort and partly because it was the only way that they'd both fit in such a stupidly small bed.

Jared slept peacefully for the rest of the night.

Just as it was getting light, Peter crept out of the bottom bunk carefully so as not to wake Jared. As he turned to get back into his own bed, he could have sworn that he caught Damien looking at him, but in the half-light, it was too hard to tell.

 **~~~~~~~~**

'Dude, you look like shit.'

'Thanks, man.'

To be honest, Peter felt like shit. It was way too early to be up, and two nights of alcohol and not nearly enough sleep had left him feeling like a total space cadet. He looked down the beach towards the rolling waves and wondered how the hell he was going to get through another day of surfing when he already felt dead on his feet.

Just as he was contemplating the possibility of taking a nap under the pier, several lawyers came flying past them, across the sand and towards the water. 'Last one in buys the beer!' came a shout. It took Peter a second to realise that the lawyer who was leading the charge was actually Infeld, and a further second to realise that Jared had already taken off down the beach.

Crap! Peter started running across the sand, amazed at the motivational qualities of being stuck with the bar bill. He overtook Jared just as they hit the surf and they both fell head first into the waves. 'Fuck, that's cold!' Peter gasped, coming up for air, although he certainly felt more awake. They turned around to see the last few Infeld & Daniels stragglers making their way half-heartedly down the beach, most of whom were complaining that the charge had been started before they were ready. Peter found himself laughing, in spite of the bracing wake-up call he'd just been given.

'Well, I guess we're in now so we might as well get on with it,' Jared said, shaking the salt water out of his hair and heading back up the beach to grab his surfboard.

The sun was starting to climb in the sky now, the breeze was salty and refreshing, and suddenly Peter was starting to feel pretty good. He lay back in the water and let himself float for a bit, relaxing into the gentle motion of the waves. He closed his eyes, an easy smile on his face. Until Jared came paddling past on his board, creating a wave that washed right over Peter's head and left him spluttering in Jared's wake.

So much for relaxation.

Peter headed back up the beach to retrieve his surfboard and noticed Stanton on his return. The CEO of Infeld & Daniels was standing on the shore, watching with a contented smile as his employees surfed, swam and just chilled out on the beach. Peter stood beside him and watched for a while.

Damien rode a wave skilfully into the shallows and, much as it pained Peter to admit it, he seemed to be pretty good. Hanna wasn't too bad either, and even those who didn't seem to be enjoying much success still seemed to be enjoying themselves.

'So, how's this weekend working out for you, Peter?' came the voice from beside him.

Peter jumped a little, not realising that Stanton had noticed he was there. 'Yeah, it's… interesting,' he admitted, not sure about his choice of words.

'Interesting?' Stanton questioned.

'Yeah, seeing colleagues in a new light like this. It's unexpected, but in a really good way.'

'Oh, not spin the bottle _again_?'

'No,' Peter admitted with a grin, 'And what do I have to do to get the rest of that story out of someone?'

'Oh no, what happens on a team building weekend…'

'… _"stays on a team building weekend"_. Yeah, I already got the corporate line from Hanna.'

'Are you going to have another go?' Stanton asked, indicating the surfboard next to Peter and completely changing the subject.

'Yeah, I might as well give it a try, seeing as we're all out here looking ridiculous,' Peter said. 'What about you?'

'Of course. Runner up in the 1979 Newquay surfing championships, you know,' Stanton replied, picking up the board that was lying on the sand next to him and heading towards the water.

Peter had no idea if even half of what his boss told them was true, but it never made it any less entertaining.

By mid afternoon, the exhaustion was starting to catch up with him so Peter decided to head back to the beach to chill out for a bit. He was paddling in on his board when he noticed a large wave starting to build behind him. Quickly, he searched for Jared and saw that he was engrossed in conversation with Hanna, his back to Peter. As the wave crested, Peter swiftly jumped up on his board and rode it in to shore.

He was retrieving the board from the end of its leash when he caught Damien looking at him. 'What now?' he asked irritably, knowing that if Damien had noticed even half of what Peter thought he had over the last few days, he wasn't sure if he wanted to know the answer.

Damien just looked at him quizzically. 'You've done that before, haven't you?' he said, nodding towards the waves, 'You didn't need to be in the beginner's class.'

Peter looked behind him towards Jared and then turned back to Damien, his expression set in a hard line. 'You tell him and you're dead,' Peter growled.

Damien looked over Peter's shoulder at Jared, then he nodded at Peter and simply said, 'He won't hear it from me,' before he walked off towards another group a little way along the shore.

Peter sighed and wandered up the beach. He sat down in a small dip in the sand, adjusted his shades and settled back to watch Jared, who was sitting on his board in the shallow water and talking to Hanna. Or rather, flirting with Hanna. Again. Peter grinned to himself. In the end it didn't really matter who else they flirted with or slept with, they would always have each other. Then he closed his eyes and listened to the sound of the waves as the afternoon sun beat down on him.

Suddenly aware of a shadow across his face, Peter opened his eyes and immediately realised that it was much later than when he'd closed them. Squinting up, he registered the shape of Jared standing over him with an amused look on his face.

'Fuck! Did I fall asleep?'

'Yeah, about three hours ago.'

'Fuck!' Peter said again. Jared offered him a hand and hauled him up on to his feet. The beach was pretty deserted by then and the sun was low on the horizon.

'Come on,' Jared said, 'Let's go and see if the queue for the shower has got any shorter.'

As they walked up the beach, it took Peter a few seconds to remember to let go of Jared's hand.

 **~~~~~~~~**

By the time they both made it out of the shower, the dorms were all strangely quiet again. Their room was empty so Jared went to check the room next door while Peter when down to the girl's room down the hall.

'No-one!' Jared said, exasperated. 'They've all gone somewhere and left us behind. You were right last night, Peter; this is like camp all over again.'

'Will you just relax?' Peter held up a piece of paper that had been pinned to the girls' door. It read _'Dinner is on the beach, come and find us...'_

'Oh,' Jared said, looking awkward. 'Well, yeah. That was my next guess.' Peter grinned at him, backing him up slowly toward the wall. 'Um, what are you doing?' Jared asked him.

'Nothing,' Peter replied. 'You're just cute when you panic.'

'I was not panicking,' Jared protested, 'I was merely voicing an opinion.'

'What? That the mean kids went off without us?' Peter continued to advance on him.

'If you think that it couldn't happen then clearly you and I had very different camp experiences.' Jared tried to shrug but found himself up against the wall of the dorm room. Peter closed the gap between them, bringing their lips together, and for the second time in two days, they found themselves kissing with only a couple of towels separating them. Pressing Jared hard against the wall, Peter was suddenly very grateful for the fact that the floor appeared to be empty.

Just as things were starting to get 'hands-y', they heard a noise in the corridor and quickly pulled themselves apart. Jared threw himself face down onto the bottom bunk and Peter crouched on the floor like he was looking for something, just as Damien came into the room.

'Oh, here it is,' Peter pretended to have found something in the bag he'd pulled out from under the bed.

'Told you,' Jared said to Peter, then turned to look at Damien. 'Hi,' he said, just a shade too brightly to be considered casual.

'I, um, just came to get this,' Damien indicated an acoustic guitar in the corner of the room. There was an awkward silence. 'So, are you two, um, coming down to the beach?' He looked uncomfortable, like he wasn't sure if he should ask the question.

'Yeah sure, we'll be right down,' Peter replied with a smile.

'Okay. Um, see you later.' Damien turned and left. Quickly.

Peter waited a few seconds for him to get out of earshot before whispering, 'Does he have like radar, or something? Every single time…'

 **~~~~~~~~**

Down on the beach there was a good fire going and the rest of the Infeld & Daniel's staff were sitting around it, attempting to cook hot dogs in the flames. It was an interesting experiment but no-one could deny that the S'mores went down way better. Gracious in defeat, those who were last into the water that morning had filled the cooler with beer, and everyone else wasted no time in getting stuck in.

Peter looked over at Jared, who was sitting on the other side of the fire. He seemed to be enjoying himself too, although he really needed to stop feeding marshmallows to Hanna. Peter wasn't sure who was going to crack first - him or Karp!

It was hard to believe that just a few days ago they'd been suited professionals; vying for cases between themselves, defending clients in court and representing one of the biggest law firms in LA. And that in another few days, they'd be doing the same thing all over again. Peter knew that the other partners had all done more than one of these weekends and clearly it didn't change anything between them once they were back in the office, but right now, looking at everyone illuminated by the firelight, laughing and joking like they were old friends, Peter couldn't see how that was possible.

After a bit of good-natured cajoling, Damien was persuaded to bring his guitar out and soon they were all singing some familiar songs, a few with updated and very questionable lyrics that everyone else seemed to automatically know. It didn't really matter that the rest of the group were operating from a shared history of these weekends, with repeated choruses of _'Oh, d'you remember when…'_ and _'What about that time you…'_ Peter was enjoying himself just the same. Although he couldn't help wishing that he'd brought his guitar too.

Without prompting and as if he'd read Peter's mind, Damien turned and held out the guitar to him. 'You want to give us a turn, Mr Bash?'

'Oh. No, it's okay, thanks.' Peter couldn't believe that he was suddenly feeling shy, despite having been desperate to play just a few minutes ago.

'Come on, Peter,' Infeld chimed in, 'Don't let the side down now. Show us what team Franklin & Bash have really got!'

Peter caught Jared giving him a look from across the fire. It was a look that Peter learned to read way back in High School, when Peter had dubbed it the _'My Best Friend Is Awesome'_ look. It kind of made his stomach do somersaults.

'You know what you should play, don't you?' Jared said softly, speaking to Peter in tones that suggested intimacy, like they were the only two people on the beach.

It was a song that Peter had learned in college; something that he and Jared used to sing at the tops of their voices when they rolled in wasted at three in the morning, until the guys in the room next door would bang on the wall and threaten to call campus security if they didn't shut the fuck up.

And so Peter played it; a little hesitantly at first, having thoroughly ploughed the furrow of melancholy love songs since Janie left him, but it soon came flooding back. At first, it was just him and Jared singing, their own shared history marking them out as a group within the group. They might be part of Infeld & Daniels right now, but they would always be Franklin & Bash. Then a few others recognised the song and joined in, so that before long everyone else was picking up the parts, and what they lacked in tune, they more than made up for in enthusiasm.

If they made it as far as next year, Peter knew that they'd got their first _'d'you remember when…'_ moment.

 **~~~~~~~~**

People eventually started to drift away in twos and threes, until there were only a handful of them left on the beach. Peter was lying on his back on a blanket, staring up at the stars, marvelling at just how many you could see once you were away from the smog and light pollution of a big city.

Hanna was talking to Jared, asking him if he was coming back to the hostel with her. There was the slightest of pauses, and Peter only caught it because he knew Jared like the back of his hand. He also knew that Jared wasn't going anywhere with Hanna.

'I think I'm going hang out here for a bit longer,' Jared said. He waved as Hanna headed back up the beach and then took a seat next to where Peter was lying. He didn't make eye contact immediately, so Peter got to watch him for a bit as the firelight danced over his skin. He never got tired of looking at Jared, but he knew that it made him uncomfortable so he tried to do it when Jared wasn't aware of it.

'You're looking at me again,' Jared said, without turning 'round.

Okay, maybe he wasn't exactly at his stealthiest, but Peter blamed the beer.

'So, come over here and lie down and then I can't see you,' Peter offered.

'Yeah? Bet you say that to all the boys!' Jared laughed but he still moved so that he was lying down next to Peter on the blanket. They both stared up at the stars for a few minutes in comfortable silence.

Peter had an overwhelming urge to lean over and kiss Jared right then, but there were still a couple of other lawyers milling around. Finally they'd said goodnight to everyone and they were the only ones left on the beach. Peter slipped his arm underneath Jared's head and Jared took hold of the hand on his shoulder and entwined their fingers. They stayed like that for a while, but eventually Jared turned onto his side so his head rested on Peter's chest, one arm casually thrown across Peter's stomach.

Peter gently kissed the top of Jared's head, pulling him into a hug. 'Suppose we should think about getting back too,' he said, quietly.

'I don't want to…'

'Well I'm not carrying you, dude!'

Jared snorted as Peter tried to picture Damien's face if he saw Peter carrying Jared over the threshold of their dorm. It was almost worth it!

'No, I just can't spend another night in that room, Peter. I'm sick of having nightmares like some fucking kid; I'm going to wake the others and I can't deal with their questions.'

Hell, Jared couldn't even deal with Peter's questions. He couldn't help wondering what those over-privileged kids had done to fuck him up this badly. 'I'll make sure you don't wake anyone else, I promise.'

'Peter, you need a good night's sleep as much as I do.'

He had to admit that Jared had a point. 'So what do we do then? Stay here?'

'We could?' Jared looked up hopefully at Peter.

Would anyone notice that they weren't in the dorm? Peter wasn't sure, but one look at Jared's face told him that he wasn't about to refuse. Then again, he'd never been very good at saying 'no' to Jared. In answer to the question, Peter gathered up the rest of the blankets from around the fire; he folded one up into a makeshift pillow and pulled the other over the top of them.

Jared smiled and nodded at him. 'Thanks,' he said, simply.

'Yeah, well it's only one more night,' Peter said, settling himself down next to Jared, 'This time tomorrow we'll be back in our own beds.' Okay, so that was rarely true these days; they might end up in one of them but the chances of both beds being occupied were pretty small. Peter instinctively curled himself in behind his best friend, losing himself in the scent of sea salt, wood smoke and something that was just uniquely Jared. Peter felt him relax a little, and for a while the only sound was the waves on the shore and the crackle of the fire as it died down.

'Jared...' There was an awkward pause as Peter tried to ask something he wasn't sure he wanted to know the answer to.

'Not now,' Jared said, quietly, pushing himself back against Peter just a little bit more. 'I'll tell you one day. Just not now.'

It didn't matter that he'd never even finished the sentence, it was good enough for Peter...

 **~~~~~~~~**

When Peter opened his eyes again, it was to the grey half-light of dawn. The breeze was cold and the fire had long since turned to ashes so he pulled himself into Jared a little more to warm up, trying not to wake him. Behind him, Peter could hear faint voices coming towards the shore. He closed his eyes again and lay still, hoping that whoever it was they were more interested in catching an early wave.

'... waited up but they never came back.'

Shit! It was Karp's voice that Peter could hear.

'... more than capable of looking after themselves.'

And Infeld. _Oh, this just gets better and better_ , Peter thought. He was quick enough to realise that they'd easily spot him and so decided to feign sleep. Unfortunately, he realised too late that he was still wrapped around Jared. A little way off, the approaching footsteps seemed to stop.

'Well, I think you have your answer as to where our _'newbies'_ , as you put it, got to last night.' Peter thought he could hear amusement in Stanton's voice but he was trying not to think about the look that would be on Damien's face. 'Perhaps not quite what I had in mind when I said that this weekend was about getting to know your colleagues better, but...'

Damien muttered something about _'not what you said when we played spin the bottle'_ that Peter was very grateful that he didn't catch.

'I trust that this will remain between the two of us, Damien? Despite what you may think, Peter and Jared are good for this firm and I don't want anything to jeopardise that.'

'You have my word. And despite what _you_ think, I happen to agree with you.' Peter heard them turn across the sand and start to head down towards the water.

'Really?' Stanton sounded surprised. Even Peter had to fight the urge to sit up and ask the same thing.

'I'm not saying that we're close or anything,' Damien countered, as their footsteps moved away, 'Or that I couldn't cheerfully kick them both out of the tenth floor window on most days. But come September, for what it's worth, they'd get my vote.'

'I knew I could count on you, Damien. Now let's catch a few waves before we have to go back to...' and the voices trailed away into nothing.

Peter smiled, kissed the back of Jared's head and pulled the blanket around them a little tighter. It may not have gone according to plan, but it looked like their first team building weekend might not be their last...

 **~~~~END~~~~**


End file.
